Batboard

Here's the question nobody asks:

I can't imagine that everyone here is an authorized user of the systems you're listening to. Well, not for EVERY radio.

Has anyone ever asked "Whose radio is that keying up?" while you were doing your research and experiments?

I must admit, I've heard that.

Elroy

It's good to be in good standing with the local system administrators, particularly to the point where they recognize that you have something to offer them.

I have not attempted to do that in my area as (1) the county is saddled with an EDACS system, which I detest (for one, it was obtained by illegal backdoor dealings...Motorola never even got a chance to bid on the system as the law was violated and no bid invitation was ever offered...) and (2) an edacs system is absurdly easy to monitor safely anyway. Anything newer than an MPD portable has a true receive only option available for every talkgroup.

Despite this, certain influential and high ranking officials in the county know of my expertise, are aware that I monitor, often with equipment that's newer than what they use, and quite frankly don't care because I am not the troublemaker type.

I do not hesitate to openly and conspicuously carry my Jaguar or MPA with me anywhere and everywhere I go, if I choose to do so. If I get the occasional comment from some officer, it's usually, "How'd you get that radio? I'm a supervisor and I'm still stuck with this old POS!"

My response: EBAY!



Elroy

I would recommend that you get one with a serial tag!

Motorola will do that for you. You have to send the radio into the depot, or the factory in Florida, but they'll do it.

You probably should cultivate your relationship with the system administrator, get in better with him, and then have him issue you written authorization. If he can get the local LEO chief in on the deal, so much the better. And then I'd not hesitate to carry the radio anywhere and if harassed, just pull out your letter of authorization with their own chief's signature on it.

Elroy

Ok, I have performed the same tests as I did for the XTS30000 with two different MTS2000 radios. One had firmware version 6.52, the other 6.53...I was hoping to get a larger difference in firmware versions. Oh well. I also tried to do it with a B5 MTX8000, but it would not let me set the concentric switch to 'TX INHIBIT'. It's firmware version was 1.37, perhaps later versions allow you to do this?

Anyway, using the same set-up I tried the same 5 scenarios as I did with the XTS3000 & bottom line I could not get the radios to transmit in any way, shape or form. No affiliations upon power up, talkgroup change, mode change between trunking & conventional, etc. The MTS would also not lock onto any particular site since it couldn't affiliate, similar to the XTS.

So far, my experimentation shows TX INHIBIT does exactly that, regardless of the radio's system configuration. However, it also results in constant site switching & as such would seem to be unreliable for monitoring a system...unless the system has audio on all surrounding sites for that particular talkgroup.

Todd

r0f wrote:
Todd,

You verified that all is 10-4 with TX-Inhibit enabled, if you set the coverage type to WAC AMSS, or Disabled, provided affiliation is set to "On PTT"?

By 10-4, I mean you can monitor the site no problem without this affiliation (or lack of) issue, preventing you from receiving talkgroup audio.

S

Yes, I didn't mention that. The radio will remain on whatever site it deems 'good' enough if affiliation is set to 'On-PTT'. It will not TX whatsoever. It also won't do any sort of auto site switching either, obviously.

I should mention I did not test whether it would respond to a dispatch inhibit command, nor can I. My gut feeling is 'yes', because it doesn't need to respond to the command.

Todd

I want to do the same with an MCS 2000. I of course want to prevent any transmitting, but I'd rather not permanently disable the radio unless that's the only option. Will the TX Inhibit, combined with Affliate only on PTT, plus not using smartzone... work for an MCS 2000... is the permanent fix the best one?

I don't think the MCS has a TX inhibt works on the MCS in the trunked modes. I could be wrong. Def use the Affitate on PTT and places those modes out of "reach". Placing them in "mode 17+" and only accessable in the scan list is the best thing to do if you really want to use the radio as a scanner. I an 99& sure the MCS has a couple of trunkning options that the ASTRO series does not have for "safer" operation, but I cannot recall what (if any) they are/were.

All previous warnings and agruements still apply.

TX Inhibit is a valid option for the Ignition Switch. The help menu says it inhibits all transmissions when switched off, but I would assume that it still wouldn't prevent it from accepting an affiliate command from the system controller.

Correct. At some point someone here a few years ago demostrated that. Even with all these "safeguards" if the system sends a command out that requires data return from the radio, it transmits as the trunking software in the firmware bypasses certain other commands.

This applies to the Astro line of radios, but apparently the MCS and MTS radio's are a little more forgiving - but not by much.

Wow, talk about bringing back a dead thread.

I have done some fiddling and testing.

MTX8000: Both positions set to TX Inhibit will not allow any transmissions regardless of what the system throws at it. The radio will still receive talkgroup traffic.

XTS3000: Same as above.

Astro Spectra (with the Ignition set to TX Inhibit): Same as above.

Spectra (with the TX Inhibit flag on): Same as above.

Astro Saber: Same as above.

Now when I programmed coverage type as SmartZone and set to affiliate automatically:

Astro Saber: No TX of any kind, as long as there is traffic on the site it's sitting on, it will RX just fine. Using the Site Lock/Unlock feature allows you to remain on a given site, and you don't get OUT OF RANGE because it can't affiliate. Seems to work no differently than Smartnet, except you can force it to search out a new site.

Astro Spectra: Same as above.

XTS3000: Same as above.


These tests were done on VHF and 800MHz systems (except the MTX8000, obviously). Not a single transmission was made, and nothing appeared on system watch.

So there you go. r0f posted that the radio needs to affiliate in order to receive talkgroup traffic, well, that isn't the case.

bellersley wrote: So there you go. r0f posted that the radio needs to affiliate in order to receive talkgroup traffic, well, that isn't the case.

He likely hadn't tried the 'site lock' feature at that point, and neither did I. As I posted, it's not that it won't receive, but rather that it will continuously cycle through the control channels regardless of signal strength. If it happens to catch some talkgroup audio while it's scanning, it'll settle down on that control channel & you'll continue to receive the conversation, but I didn't test how long it stays that way. Using the site lock is probably the best way to go.

I haven't tried with digital talkgroups to see if there's any other issues like PJ pointed out he's seen. I'm sure with all the different firmware versions, and SZOL platform versions, there very well could be problems which might pop up.